Well, it's about time I updated this. And...

I've got nothing to say. So let's jump right in.

Chapter 32: Spiraling Out of Control

Looking down at my Scroll, which was currently mounted on my wrist, using the GPS was nearly impossible as I sprinted down one of the downtown streets, ducking and weaving past pedestrians, yelling out apologies in response to several angry shouts. I could feel my heart pounding in my throat, as I looked to my wrist. Blake and Yang were already speeding down the highway, while I was a few blocks away from their position.

Growling in annoyance, I realised that traveling by foot would take too long: without Ruby's speed, I'd never be able to make it in time. So I raised my free wrist, flicked my weapons to crossbow form, and aimed skyward to the lip of a roof. Firing, I watched as a grappling barb shot upwards. As it impacted, I pulled downwards, feeling the line constrict, and leapt, now flying through the air.

If I couldn't make it on foot, then moving by sky would have to suffice.

Feeling the wind in my hair was an amazing experience, and it only seemed to get better, as I lashed a second grappling barb into a nearby building, retracting the first as I did so. As gravity took hold, the wire grew tight, and I swung back down to the asphalt. Planting a foot for a landing, I kept my arm up, not letting the thread loose. My feet pounded on the tarmac as I sprinted, halfway hanging from the wire, before leaping onto an oncoming car's bonnet, and using it as a springboard. I looked back, and yelled another apology, before I made for an alleyway, hoping for a shortcut.

But as I descended, a red streak emerged from the corner, turning towards me. With both me and the steak unable to stop, as I didn't have a way of slowing, we smashed together with a sickening crash. As the wire came loose from my gauntlet, I fell back, headfirst into the concrete. My skull smashed into the ground, and I immediately lost consciousness.

The next thing I knew, I felt a hand roughly shaking my shoulder. My vision swimming, I could make out a few blurry shapes, and my hearing was dulled.

"Da… kay…"

I rubbed my aching head, feeling an enormous lump on the base of my scalp tingly painfully as my fingers drifted over it.

"Ouch…" I groaned, as I tried to right myself. The same hand tried to lift me up as well, steadying me.

"Darrel, you okay? How many fingers do you see?" A familiar voice asked. The blur in my vision pulled into focus, and I saw Ruby looking at me, holding two fingers up.

"Um, two?" I asked, confusedly. Ruby just shrugged.

"Eh, stuff it, you're okay. Your Aura took a bad hit, but you'll be fine." She explained. I just looked at my wrist, to see she was right: my Aura level had fallen to approximately half. An image of my head appeared, and a ripple flowed from where it had smacked against the concrete. I smiled: to an unprotected head, a hit like that could likely cause a major brain injury. Tapping on my scroll, I stowed it to a more compact form, and mounted it back onto my gauntlet.

"How long was I out?" I asked, feeling the dizziness weaken as I stood. Ruby just held out a hand, and I grasped it, drawing in her speed again.

"Eh, two seconds, max. Anyway, the highway isn't far from here. I'm gonna follow Torchwick under the freeway, and meet up with you guys where it'll fall. Weiss will bring it to the ground, while you, Blake and Yang run distraction. If you swing, you'll reach them in time. Got it?" She ordered. Internally, I smiled. She was definitely delivering as the leader of the team.

"Roger that, Ruby." I nodded. Looking up to see the alley opening up back to the main street, I fired two grappling barbs at the corners of the roofs. Pulling back, feeling my arms grow taut as the wires stretched like elastic, I leapt forward, slingshotting myself skyward and feeling the wind on my body as I continued to swing towards the highway.

Landing with a thud on a nearby roof, I rolled to a standing position, and sprinted to the edge of the roof, not even bothering to look before I jumped rocketing towards the highway. As I soared like a bird, I aimed at an overpass's support strut, and fired another barb. Curving around the concrete pole, I released the wire, and aimed at another one further down the highway. As I swung, I could see two little specks fleeing for their lives, and a mechanical monstrosity which barreled down the highway, knocking cars flying onto their sides or roofs as it ran. In the meantime, a familiar yellow motorcycle weaved crazily through the airborne traffic.

This night was getting better and better by the second.

Releasing the barb from the highway strut, I flipped through the air, aiming for the Paladina. I'd only get one chance at this: too much to either side, and I'd be literal roadkill.

"This is gonna hurt…" I whispered to myself, seeing the ground coming up to make friends with me. But right as my sight was filled with nothing but asphalt, I felt metal slam into me, causing a few bruises, and the wind was now assaulting my back instead of my face.

"Hey, get off of my weapon of mass destruction!"

Looking up, the panels of the suit had peeled away, revealing a very angry Roman Torchwick. I just sneered, and fired an arrow at him, not knowing which one it was. But in all honesty, it didn't matter, as the panels reformed into seamless steel, and the arrow bounced away. The Paladin raised an arm, and reached forwards, winding up a punch to try and crush me. But I was ready: as the metallic fist rocketed towards me, I scrambled up to the canopy, feeling the robot shudder as the metal fist slammed against the chest, and leapt onto the retreating arm. As it drew back, I raised my fist, and unsheathed a wristblade. But this one was different: thanks to Weiss, I now had a Dust powered cutting system installed into one of my gauntlets, allowing me to slice through items more easily. Unfortunately, it wasn't without flaws: because it was a prototype system, I had to keep it cool, or else it would overheat and potentially cause my gauntlet to explode. Nothing promotes responsible weapon maintenance like the notion of your arm being blown to a bloody stump…

But either way, I sliced through the metallic fist, causing it to splinter into several pieces, which disappeared on the road behind me. But apparently, Roman was expecting me to do this, as the mech's other hand picked me up, and threw me away like a piece of trash. Impacting on the asphalt, I began to slide down the road at a ridiculous speed, my Aura barely shielding me from road rash. But it was based on energy, and if I couldn't find a way to catch up to Roman, my Aura would give out, and I'd just become a long red streak on the highway. But being ground to a bloody pulp was most definitely not on today's agenda.

Firing a grappling barb into the back of the mech' right where the legs joined the torso, I felt myself speed up as the Paladin began to drag me along the road. As I rolled out of the way of a flying car, I watched as one of it's doors tore away from the chassis. I launched another barb, watching it fly as it impacted into the door I tugged back, pulling it towards me. Right then, I heard a beeping from my wrist, followed by a computerised voice.

"WARNING: USER'S AURA IS AT CRITICAL LEVEL."

Cursing under my breath, I realized that what I had planned would have to be done quickly, or else I'd be a goner. Roaring in effort, I pulled the car door to me, and watched as it slid along the ground, generating a massive storm of sparks. Clambering onto the door, I got to my feet, and adjusted my balance, trying to stay upright.

Surfing on a car door, dodging flying wreckage and small weapons fire… If I could go back in time, and tell myself that I'd be doing this after a few months on this planet, I'd never believe me. As a matter of fact, even as I ducked to prevent a car tyre taking my head off, I still had trouble believing that this was really happening. But as Yang pulled up alongside me on her motorcycle, with Neptune standing atop the rear fender, she flashed me a thumbs up, and a wink beneath her sunglasses.

Neptune pulled out the metal slab that was strapped to his back, and it unfolded into a firearm that resembled a railgun. Taking aim, he fired at the sprinting mech, landing a few rounds into it's back. Standing atop the rear fender of Yang's motorcycle, he twirled his gun, and it extended with a series of clicks and whirrs, into a glaive, the blade glowing with a light-blue energy. Jumping skyward, and backflipping effortlessly, the weapon continued to transform, the blades swiftly separating into three large points, like a trident. I smirked, watching as he buried the blades into the back of the Paladin.

"Darrel, heads up!"

Yang's voice yelling for attention forced me to look away, towards the road ahead. A good thing too, as before me was a pair of cars, one lying on it's side, the other resting atop the first upside down. Quickly thinking, I yanked back on the cable that held my impromptu board steady, forcing the door to angle up. Right as I hit the makeshift ramp of cars, I felt a violent bump and felt myself rocketing skyward, the door still anchored to my feet. Landing heavily, my knees buckled, but I managed to stay strong.

Looking up, the mech began to gyrate it's upper body, leaving Neptune holding on for dear life by the long handle of his weapon. Looking ahead, I saw Sun slam his fist into his open palm, generating two golden clones made of some form of energy. The leapt through the sky, right towards Roman's mech. The metal giant simply swatted them away like they were nothing more than bugs on a windshield. Taking an opportunity, Sun leapt forwards, his staff ready for an overhead strike. But Neptune was finally launched free from the giant's back, and he collided with Sun, forcing them both off the highway and out of sight.

"Blake, I'm in position!"

Weiss's voice rang out through my scroll, and I watched her leap down from an overpass up ahead, weapon ready. As the walking scrapheap drew closer to her, she slammed her weapon into the ground, causing a giant sheet of ice to spread over the road. Seeing what she was about to do, I released the barb from the back of the Paladin, and watched as it's feet gave out from underneath it. It skidded and bounced on the road, until it hit a holographic barrier, causing it to flicker as the mech tumbled through it and down to ground level.

As Blake jumped off the back of a flatbed truck, and Yang skidded to a stop on her motorcycle, leaping off as she did so, I released the barb from the door I had surfed on, and leapt into a sideways cartwheel, spinning over the holographic barrier, and dropping several meters to ground level, hearing a crash as the makeshift board skidded away further down the tarmac. Surfing on the road had been fun, but now the real challenge began: a full on melee with the largest intelligent enemy I had encountered to date.

Never a dull moment, I had to admit.

As the four of us landed alongside Ruby, we all drew our weapons, and stared down our foe. The mechanical giant began to stride ominously towards us, Ruby yelled out two words:

"Freezer Burn!"

Ruby, Blake and I jumped back from the fight, leaving Weiss and Yang. In range of the giant. Weiss performed her trademark spin and stab, freezing the ground over with a thick layer of ice. But Roman was ready this time, as the mech stopped it's progression. Unfortunately for him, however, lubricating the ground wasn't what the ice was meant for. Looking up, I saw Yang flipping in the air, bringing down a burning fist straight for the center of the ice. Slamming the hot cudgel into the cold ground was enough: the ice shattered, and melted in an instant, generating a cold mist that masked the battlefield.

Since I couldn't explain what was going to happen in the future, I decided to tell RWBY parts of what I knew about what the fans had conjured up. Mostly it was the ship names for each couple's pairing, White Rose, BumbleBee, Checkmate, things like that, but it was enough to give Ruby some inspiration for team attacks. After some horrified and unsettling reactions had passed over, of course.

Snapping back to reality, I heard the mech thump it's foot on the ground, multiple red beams of light shining through the fog, like laser pointers. Dashing away, a round erupted from the smoke, and the ground I stood on mere moments ago splintered into a small crater, right as I heard Ruby yell out…

"Twilight!"

That was my cue. Firing out a pair of whip arrows, I watched through the mist as Blake formatted Gambol Shroud into the format of her kurasigama, her chain scythe. Smiling, I began to twirl the whips in almost blinding circles, hearing them whistle through the air.

This variant of arrow wasn't designed to strike a target in a manner one would expect. Rather, it was a barbed stick on a thin, Dust-infused wire, capable of being wreathed in flames, shrouded in crackling electricity, or coated in sharp icicle shards, depending on the Dust I had stored. Another modification, courtesy of Ruby and Weiss. But the cutting system and the whip arrows weren't the only modifications I had requested. Far from it, actually. As the whips slammed into the ground, ice shards emerged from the wire, like tiny little barbs. Swiping at Roman's feet, I watched as some armour plating was sheared off, bouncing away. Twirling the whips away, I aimed for a concrete pillar.

"Blake, go for the head!" I yelled, feeling the whips slam into the nearby support, lodging tightly into the stone and spreading the ice from the wire into the stone, anchoring firmly. Running back, I spun around another pillar, wrapping the wires around the stone and pulling with all my strength. Meanwhile, Blake leapt skyward, using Gambol Shroud to swing upwards, fly around another pillar, and rocket to the back of the Paladin. With a fearful crash of a hard impact on metal, Blake backflipped away from the giant, as it stumbled forwards, straight into the tripwire I was holding. It took all my strength to stay rooted to the ground, while the mech toppled to the ground with an almighty crash and a shower of dust. With the mech now focussed on getting back up, we now had a bit of time to prepare any further attacks.

"Ladybug!"

My work was done for now. Leaping back, I watched as Ruby leapt skywards for an overhead attack with Crescent Rose. The blade of the massive scythe lodged itself deep in the back of the mech, and Ruby swung up on the handle of her weapon, balancing on the pole, and rotating it so it pointed up, firing rounds into the back of the mech. Blake, meanwhile, had taken to slashing at the mech's sensors and external weapons, severing a few with precise swings of her blades.

But the Paladin merely didn't notice the attacks, as more weapons emerged from within the beast. One wayward arm punched Blake away, forcing her to swing around a support. As the giant stood, Ruby began to lose her balance, and was left hanging onto her weapon's grip by one hand. The mech began to rush backwards, Roman intent on crushing Ruby against a pillar. But a glyph appeared on the pillar, right as Ruby was about to be pasted against it. The mech struggled, but it was enough of a delay, as Yang tackled Ruby away, taking Crescent Rose with her at the same time. As the two sisters skidded across the ground, Ruby yelled her next order.

"Cloud Cover!"

Now was my time once again. As Weiss glided forwards, as though she were skating, I leapt into the air, coming face to face with two of her glyphs, about the size of a basketball in diameter. Gripping them both in my hands, a third glyph formed at my feet, and I landed smoothly on it, quickly getting to my feet. With a flick of my hands, the glyphs I held began to multiply, and I began to throw them at Roman, as if they were chakrams.

I had absorbed Weiss's Semblance via the glyph I stood upon, and began to unleash a flurry of sharp discs at our foe. Some bounced off the metal monster, others buried themselves into the steel, while a few protruding weapons were sliced off, falling to the ground. Once I grew tired, I hopped off of Weiss's glyph, and back onto the firm ground. This attack was designed for disarming opponents, both figuratively, and presumably literally. With the Paladin's ranged arsenal heavily crippled, we could now focus on stopping it altogether.

"Sunrise!"

And what better way to start that mission than this attack? Feeling Yang's heat on my back, I leapt back, flipping so that I stood on her fists. With a mighty yell, she pushed forwards, firing a round from her gauntlets at the same time. The wind peeled my face back slightly, but I ignored it, as I unsheathed two blades, held them aloft so that the points touched. Finally, I began to spin in mid-air like a drill, feeling the rushing air flow around me. But that wasn't the only trick I had.

Feeling Yang's Semblance burning within, I felt fire shroud me, as if I were undergoing atmospheric re-entry. From an outsider's perspective, it would appear as if a spear of fire was flying through the air. But as I saw Roman's mech get closer and closer, doubt began to flood my mind: would this even work? But then I remembered Yang's advice.

'Keep thinking that way, and you'll just destroy yourself.'

There was no room for doubt. Not then, not now, and not ever.

I span straight through the Paladin, cleaving through metal, wire, and various other materials, before forcing the fire to die down, and landing in a crouch some meters behind the Paladin. Looking back, I took in the damage that our attack had wrought.

The entire left shoulder had a gaping hole through it, and the left arm was completely severed, hanging limply by only a few wires. The hole was scorched and smoking, and the mech was struggling to stay aloft. But then, it's right arm reached over, gripped it's smoking twin, and tore it free, spinning it round and swiping at my teammates.

This was bad. I watched as Yang was smacked away with the swipe, slamming through a pair of pillars, and sliding to the ground. Roman's mech strode up to her, and slammed it's right arm, the one still connected, against her limp form. She didn't move an inch.

"Yang!" I cried out. I ran over to her, slipping around the mech, when I felt Ruby's hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry. Every hit she takes, she absorbs the energy and uses it to fight back! That's what makes her special." She explained. Turning back to look at her, I noticed she was indeed right: Yang's fire was glowing white hot, like a burning magnesium strip. As the giant swung the fist again, Yang simply stood, moving quicker than lightning. Right as the metal was about to connect, she swung a fist of her own, slamming against the steel equivalent she stared down. With a look that bordered the line between nonchalance and undiluted fury, she launched her other fist, impacting into the steel and causing the entire right arm to shatter into millions of pieces.

Roman wasn't done yet though, as the now armless Paladin raised a foot, and slammed it into Yang's side, punting her away like a football. As she flew past us, I heard Ruby yell.

"Bumblebee!"

Blake whirled around, and pitched her weapon at Yang, who caught it with one free hand. Using the ribbon, and Yang's momentum, Blake spun the ribbon around over her head. But as Yang was about to impact the badly-damaged automaton, it leaned back, and Yang's strike came up short.

"We need to keep it still!" I yelled to Ruby and Weiss. Both turned to me.

"Obviously! And how do you propose we do that?!" Weiss shouted back. Ruby stepped forward, and slammed the blade of Crescent Rose into the ground, taking aim at the robot.

"White Rose, Red Sky!"

Clearly getting the message, Weiss raised a hand, forming a glyph in front of Ruby's weapon, plus two more in front of my arms. I flicked my crossbows forward, and held them aloft, aiming at Roman's Paladin through the two glyphs. With each pull of Ruby's trigger, and each twitch of my hand, her bullets and my arrows would be frozen to arctic temperatures, freezing any foe of any size in place. The hail of rounds struck true, as the Paladin was slowly enveloped in ice. Meanwhile, Blake was swinging Yang around for another assault. But with Roman unable to dodge or move, Yang's fist slammed against the mech's canopy with the sound of a thunderclap. The ice shattered, and the mech followed suit, splintering into a pile of scorched steel, shredded wires, and one dazed criminal brushing himself down, muttering to himself amid the wreckage.

As Yang landed, she spun around on the balls of her feet, and fired one last burning round, hotter than the sun, at the defenseless thief. But for some reason, the round splashed against a hard surface, dissipating into the ground and air. As the brightness died down, I saw a frilly pink parasol shielding Roman. It was lifted away, revealing the owner, and I could see that something was… off about her. Her hair was toned in two contrasting shades of chocolate brown and strawberry pink, as were her eyes, and her pale skin looked like there was no warmth underneath whatsoever. Even with Yang burning like lava beside me, looking at this girl made my blood turn cold.

"Ladies, Ice Queen,…"

"Hey!" Weiss was offended at the insult, but Roman continued, unfazed.

"…and Faunus Wannabe,…"

"Oi!" Now was my turn to bellow, insulted that he would stoop so low to call me that.

"…it's been a pleasure. Neo, if you would?" He asked. The three-toned girl gave a small bow to us, a mocking smile on her face. Yang growled, and sprinted forwards, cocking a bracelet as she ran. But as she connected with her punch, Roman and 'Neo' shattered like glass, almost like we had been looking through a mirror. Everybody looked around confusedly, before Blake yelled out.

"He's getting away!" She yelled, raising her pistol at a Bullhead, which showed the two crooks smiling as they fled. I just walked beside her, and lowered her weapon.

"No point. He's long gone." I stated. Ruby, Weiss, and Yang walked up to us, watching the jet disappear into the night. Yang had cooled back down to normal temperature, but I could still feel that she was angry.

"So… looks like he got a new henchman." She said, her teeth gritted slightly.

"Yeah. Looks like she really made our plans… fall apart!" She joked, grinning at her own humour. Ruby giggled at the bad pun, while Blake just strode away, her face hiding the slightest of smiles. I, meanwhile, snickered, until Yang elbowed me in the side. She looked at the heiress.

"No. Just… no."

"Wha—? But, you do it!" Weiss protested. Yang just gave her a hard look.

"There's a time and a place for jokes." She responded harshly. Weiss just scoffed.

"Was this not it?!" She asked vehemently. Yang just sighed in exasperation.

"No, your timing was perfect. But your joke wasn't very good." She explained, a hint of jealousy in her voice as she turned away, and began to walk after Blake. Weiss sheathed her weapon, and followed after her, still arguing. All that remained was Ruby and I.

"Wait… where are Sun and Neptune?" She asked, looking around. I just shrugged.

"Eh, they're probably fine, right?" I offered. Honestly, in my time here, I'd seen people recover from worse than being thrown off a highway at several kilometers an hour. Heck, I'd survived being swallowed by a giant lizard. They'd probably be at a noodle vendor now, or something. Ruby shrugged.

"Probably." She agreed nonchalantly, striding after her teammates. I followed suit, now feeling very tired, stifling a yawn. That fight with Torchwick had taken a lot out of me, and I wanted nothing more that a hot shower and a comfy pillow to sleep on. But either way, tomorrow was another day of education, and I needed all the energy I could muster.

Well, better late than never.

Anyway, for those wondering if I'll be doing more lemon chapters like what I wrote in the last chapter:

Short answer:
No.

Long answer:
Noooooooooooo.

Very Long answer:
The lemon scene I wrote in the last chapter is NON-CANON. I put it in as a bonus, to show how poor my writing is in regards to intimate encounters. Plus, Darrel and Yang are both seventeen! I'm not writing underage sex! No way, no how!

So for those wondering if I'll be doing more, then these are the answers. But that doesn't mean I won't think about a date chapter in the future.

Oh, and one more thing: ShadedExalt, feel free to PM me about this offer you mentioned in your first review. I'm curious as to what you have to offer to me.